International Symposium:Paleoozoic Paleogeography of East Asia

This session aims to bring together experts in the paleogeography of East Asia with special emphasis on the early Paleozoic. The main focus will be on the geology of Japan, but we will also present information from countries germane to elucidating the paleogeographical evolution of East Asia, such as Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and China. The methods presented will mainly focus on i) paleontology including the new results of recent studies and summaries of well-documented regions, and ii) geochronology, in particular U–Pb ages of detrital minerals. Some will be new research, some will be reviews of previous results. We think that trilobite studies are a previously under-used source of valuable information on paleogeography and intend to make this a special focus of the session. We hope to present the results of a review of trilobite collections from throughout Japan. This will be the first time information from all the substantial collections of trilobites in Japan has been brought together and assessed in the light of modern analytical techniques focussed on this group.